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A289

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A289
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (5)
From:  Strood (TQ700696)
To:  Gillingham (TQ789666)
Distance:  9.1 miles (14.6 km)
Meets:  A2, M2, A226, B2000, A228, B2108, B2004
Former Number(s):  B2004
Old route now:  B2108
Highway Authorities

Kent  • Medway

Traditional Counties

Kent

Route outline (key)
A289 Strood – Gillingham

The A289 ran for many years from the A2 west of Strood in Kent to Wainscott, allowing access to the Isle of Grain avoiding more built up urban areas. Nowadays, however, along with a small section of A2 and the A278, it forms a northern bypass of the Medway Towns.

Route

Strood – Gillingham

The A289's eastbound carriageway leaves the A2 just south of the turn to the Inn on the Lake, while a sliproad now also provides an exit just a few yards before the end of the northbound M2 at J1, to encourage through traffic from the south and west to avoid Strood town centre and the older alignment of the A289. The current road sweeps eastward as a non-primary dual-carriageway, with a couple of GSJs where it passes firstly beneath the A226 (part of the historic coaching route from London to Rochester via Gravesend, and the original A2 in early numbering drafts), and then the B2000 to Cliffe, where controversial plans to build an airport were finally cancelled in the early 2000s.

A mile or so further and there's a roundabout, where the A228 leads off left to the Isle of Grain, and the B2108 (the old A289) turns right into Wainscott. Still dual-carriageway, there is a short multiplex with the A228 (with the A289 number dominant), which leaves for Strood at the next roundabout.

Medway Tunnel

Here the A289 turns left down towards the River Medway, and soon we are cruising through the Medway Tunnel, built in 1996 in an attempt to alleviate traffic problems on the A2 through Rochester and Chatham. Once through the tunnel there is a junction for Chatham's historic dockyard: the Victory was built here, but now the dockyard's a museum, a branch of Greenwich University and the inevitable prime site for executive housing. A shopping outlet village now sits on some of the old dockyard area.

The A289 then squeezes past the suburb of Brompton, with its associations with the Royal Engineers, and then merges with what used to be the line of the B2004, on what is now a multiplex for over a mile.

The next mile and a half is really a suburban street (although it's been dualled), as it is an in-place upgrade of the B2004, there being no land left for a proper bypass. Shortly after this, a roundabout is reached, and the B2004 leaves for Lower Rainham, allowing the A289 to bear right and run on new-build up to the A2 east of Gillingham. And that's it. To complete the ring road, turn left at the A2, then turn right onto the A278.

History

The A289 was the first new 3-digit A-road to be allocated to the 2-zone, being in place by 1924. In this incarnation it ran from the A2 in Strood to the A228 in Wainscott.

In 1998 the original section was bypassed, with the old road becoming the B2108.

The original route of the A289 on the 1924-25 MoT map
The original route of the A289 on a modern map

Opening Dates

Year Section Notes
1996 Medway Tunnel Medway Towns Northern Relief Road Phase 1. Dual carriageway. Opened on 12 June 1996 by Princess Anne. It was the 2nd immersed tube tunnel built in UK, this concrete section was 370m long, 23.9m wide, 9.15m high and linked to cut and cover tunnels on each bank of the River Medway. Total length was 725m. Consultants were Mott MacDonald, contractors a joint venture of Tarmac Construction Ltd. and HBM Civil Engineering Ltd. Cost £80 million. The Rochester Bridge Trust was granted the power to build and own the tunnel by the Medway Tunnel Act and the trust, in co-operation with the councils, was involved until the Freehold and all responsibilities passed to Medway Council in 2009.
1998 Wainscott Northern Bypass Medway Towns Northern Relief Road Phase 2 (Hasted Road). The 4.5 mile dual carriageway from M2 J1 Park Pale Interchange (Three Crutches) to Four Elms Roundabout was opened on 14 December 1998 by Lord Kingsdown. Contractor was Alfred McAlpine Civil Engineering Ltd., cost £65 million. It completed a link to Medway Tunnel although the Eastern Bypass (Wulfere way) and Berwick Way upgrade was due to be completed by Christmas 1998. MTNRR was completed in 1999.
1999 Gillingham Northern Relief Road Medway Towns Northern Relief Road Phase 3. The 1.9 mile dual carriageway east of Medway Tunnel opened in June 1999 to complete the MTNRR. Contractor was a Christiani & Nielson / May Gurney consortium. The MTNRR was built to facilitate the development of Chatham Maritime, the former Royal Naval Dockyard site.




A289
Junctions
Crossings
Roads
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (5)
Medway Tunnel - Chatham Side - Geograph - 546544.jpgStart of M2, J1, Eastbound - Coppermine - 20193.jpgWill Adams Way Roundabout - Geograph - 1014926.jpgM2 Junction 1 Aerial - Coppermine - 20194.jpgPark Pale Interchange 1986 proposals.png
Other nearby roads
Medway Towns
Strood
Chatham
Gillingham
A200-A299
A200 • A201 • A202 • A203 • A204 • A205 • A206 • A207 • A208 • A209 • A210 • A211 • A212 • A213 • A214 • A215 • A216 • A217 • A218 • A219
A220 • A221 • A222 • A223 • A224 • A225 • A226 • A227 • A228 • A229 • A230 • A231 • A232 • A233 • A234 • A235 • A236 • A237 • A238 • A239
A240 • A241 • A242 • A243 • A244 • A245 • A246 • A247 • A248 • A249 • A250 • A251 • A252 • A253 • A254 • A255 • A256 • A257 • A258 • A259
A260 • A261 • A262 • A263 • A264 • A265 • A266 • A267 • A268 • A269 • A270 • A271 • A272 • A273 • A274 • A275 • A276 • A277 • A278 • A279
A280 • A281 • A282 • A283 • A284 • A285 • A286 • A287 • A288 • A289 • A290 • A291 • A292 • A293 • A294 • A295 • A296 • A297 • A298 • A299
Defunct Itineraries: A239 • A268 • A270 • A273 • A274 • A277 • A278 • A280 • A282 • A285 • A292(W) • A292(E) • A295

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